A. JUDGES WRITE CREATIVE SENTENCES
The defendant before Judge Larry Standley in Harris County, Texas, criminal court in January had slapped his wife on New Year's Eve. The defense and the prosecutor had agreed on a punishment. Standley was about to sign off on it when, on impulse, he tacked on another condition: yoga class.
Then came the uproar (шум, гам). CNN wanted an interview. Newspapers worldwide wrote about the yoga judge. Hate mail arrived from a North Carolina man who accused him of promoting Buddhism.
Standley stands by (ожидать, придерживаться) his sentence. He says he hopes the combination of traditional punishment and a mind- and body-stretching yoga class will help the man control his behavior. And, he says, it certainly can't hurt.
At a time when many of the nation's judges feel hamstrung by proscribed sentencing guidelines (руководящие принципы), some judges still take advantage of the leeway (свобода действий) they have. Though a number of judges are just reacting to the guidelines, others are imposing odd sentences out of frustration with repeat offenders or as a way to avoid sending small-time criminals (мелкие преступники) to overcrowded jails. Others do it simply because they can. Creative sentences, which vary from wacky (странные, чокнутые) to downright mean, are tacked on to jail time, community service and probation. Many are controversial.
Sentencing (вынесение приговора) is most restrictive at the federal level, where judges tally up the offenses (преступления) and use a formula set by Congress to determine prison time. Felony and misdemeanor judges in every state have legal constraints (юридические ограничения) on sentences, but judge in some states have leeway to add conditions. Municipal courts, which generally handle traffic and misdemeanor cases, typically leave the most room for creativity.
Judges such as Standley are bucking a trend (идти против тенденции) of the past decade to stiffen sentences and make punishment more uniform. And state legislatures (законодательные органы) and sentencing commissions, faced with budget deficits and overcrowded prisons, are taking notice. In the past three years, at least a dozen states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan and Utah, have begun to examine and revamp (обновлять) sentencing policies.
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B. DRAWING DISTINCTIONS
No one is sure whether the alternatives work better than plain old time in the slammer. Advocates for sentencing reform say an outlandish or highly embarrassing sentence might deepen an offender's rage and lead to another crime. A number of studies are underway to determine whether straying from the norm reduces crime.
Among examples:
• People convicted of domestic violence or fighting by Municipal Judge Frances Gallegos in Santa Fe are often sentenced to a twice-a-week, New Age anger-management class held in the courthouse lobby. In the lobby, transformed with candles, mirrors and aromatherapy, offenders experience tai chi, meditation, acupuncture (иглоукалывание) and Eastern philosophy as a means of controlling rage. Gallegos calls her methods "therapeutic jurisprudence" and says she turned to the novel approach when she became dismayed by the number of repeat offenders returning to her courtroom.
• Municipal Judge David Hostetler of Coshocton, Ohio, this month ordered a man to jog for an hour every other day (через день) around the block where the jail is located. The man had run away from police after a traffic accident. Hostetler routinely turns to alternative punishments to keep offenders out of an overcrowded local jail. He received worldwide attention in 2001 when he ordered two men to dress in women's clothing and walk down Main Street as a sentence for throwing beer bottles at a car and taunting (говорить колкости, дразнить) a woman. The Ohio Legislature has enacted a law (принять закон) that allows judges to choose alternative punishments if they are related to the crime.
Judges who choose alternative sentences say they focus on first-time offenders. They say they want to teach the offenders a lesson without ruining their lives with prison time.
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